🌟 QUESTION 1: What Triggered the End of the Cretaceous?
Focus: The Asteroid Impact and Climate Disaster
What catastrophic event ended the Cretaceous Period?
What hit Earth 66 million years ago?
Where did the asteroid strike? (Find Chicxulub crater!)
How big was the asteroid? How fast was it going?
What was the immediate impact? (Earthquakes, tsunamis, fires?)
How did the asteroid impact CHANGE Earth's climate?
What happened to the atmosphere? (Dust, ash, darkness?)
How did temperatures change after impact?
What happened to plant life?
How long did these climate changes last?
Why did this climate change kill dinosaurs but not everything?
What survived? (mammals, birds, crocodiles, turtles, etc.)
What advantages did survivors have?
Why couldn't large dinosaurs adapt?
How did this create opportunities for mammals?
🌟 QUESTION 2: How Did Climate Impact Dinosaur Evolution (BEFORE the asteroid)?
Focus: Warmest Period and Maximum Diversity
What was the climate like DURING the Cretaceous (before the asteroid)?
Was it the warmest of all three periods?
Were the poles icy or covered in forests?
How high were sea levels? Why?
Were there different climate zones?
How did very warm climate lead to MAXIMUM dinosaur diversity?
Why did MORE types of dinosaurs evolve?
Did warm poles allow dinosaurs to live everywhere?
How did high sea levels create isolated habitats?
Did different regions evolve different dinosaurs?
How did flowering plants change dinosaur evolution?
When did flowers (angiosperms) first appear?
How were flowers different from earlier plants?
Did new herbivore adaptations evolve to eat flowers?
Did flowering plants support MORE herbivores?
How did this affect carnivore evolution?
📍 Supporting Research Questions
What did Earth look like? Did continents drift to modern positions? What was the Western Interior Seaway?
What was dinosaur diversity like? What new groups appeared in the Cretaceous?
🦖 EXPERT DINOSAUR CHALLENGE
Find and research 9 Cretaceous dinosaurs that include:
At least 2 tyrannosaurids (advanced tyrannosaurs)
At least 2 from different ceratopsian families
At least 2 hadrosaurs (duck-billed dinosaurs)
At least 1 dromaeosaur (raptor family)
At least 1 abelisaurid from Gondwana
At least 1 from Antarctica or Australia
BONUS Expert Questions:
Which dinosaurs had feathers? What were they for?
How did ceratopsian frills and horns evolve?
What's the difference between early tyrannosaurs and T. rex?
Why were hadrosaurs so successful?
How do we know some dinosaurs lived in herds?
✅ Cretaceous Poster Checklist
🤓 Expert Fact!
The Chicxulub asteroid was about 10-15 kilometers wide and hit Earth at 72,000 km/h! The impact released energy equal to 10 BILLION atomic bombs and created a crater 180 kilometers wide!